Here are some hard truths about earning income, and passive income, as a creative in today’s Western countries. I am generalizing for all the arts, but especially the niches where I come from.
It’s not learning a skill when you just press a button, but the economic and social pressure to use it (and to rapidly iterate low effort content) is intense. Here’s my hot take on writers and other creatives using generative A.I. to package and promote their otherwise high effort human endeavors.
Our entire global economy is bent around people’s passion for becoming creators. Strip away the financial and tech bro jargon, and this is the truth laid bare, as Abby sees it.
00:00 The global economy is driven by creative content (producers and consumers).
02:30 Not just professionals, also hobbyists.
03:02 Creatives are motivated to become influencers.
03:58 Creatives buy expensive computers and graphics cards and software and digital ads.
04:23 Students, midlife crisis adults, retirees… people underestimate the vast numbers of dabblers.
06:02 And then there’s the self-help gurus and scammers incentivizing creatives. 06:31 Examples of how amateur creatives prop up the megacap companies.
07:32 Everybody wants to be a creator. Is this sustainable?
I’m ramping up my AuthorTube & BookTube channel with more frequent video posts. While I’m at it, here’s a preview of the browser MMO game my husband is solo developing, First Earth, with a lot of the 3D artwork provided by me!
First Earth is a work in progress, not a final product.
Abby walks through each step of the process, from arranging the graphics to easily folding the 8.5×11 paper.
Fold a sheet of paper into a cool little zine, otherwise known as a mini comic booklet! Abby makes her own zines at home with Photoshop (although any graphics program will do), scissors, a stapler, and a black and white LaserJet printer. From template to finished mini comic.
She gives these away for free at her vendor booth table during conventions and book festivals.
From what I’ve seen, A.I. generated artwork has a certain aesthetic to it. Faces are rarely defined. Imagery may be riotously detailed, which gives a superficial impression that it was lovingly worked on by hand for many days, but it lacks a coherent theme. That gives the impression that it is dreamlike imagery, or slap-dabbed together by someone in a creative frenzy. It is a certain look.
Perhaps that aesthetic will always be appealing. But I wonder if it will wear out its welcome? I’m already getting worn out on it. I feel as if I can recognize it when I see it, and it’s not what I want for my finalized novel covers. (Short stories, maybe.)
And I think the same applies to Jasper A.I. and other A.I. writing tools. People who read a lot of blogs and articles are learning to recognize overly emotional language that is incongruously used for conveying generic or low-value content.
I’ve seen A.I. performers, where people pay a service that simulates an actor to read lines. There is an uncanny valley effect with those. The “actor” looks quite human, but they blink a bit too often, and their smiles are quick and small and weirdly constrained.
I don’t know how the arts will adapt to these things. But speaking as a writer-artist, I’m not thrilled about it. I think this is all part of the race-to-the-bottom in the arts. Companies don’t want to pay artists and writers. Now they don’t have to.
The question is: Will the public accept A.I. art and writing as equal to the real thing? Or will they tune it out eventually? Will they tend to gravitate towards art and writing created by real people? Or will enough people fail to see the difference, or fail to care, so that the money flows towards A.I. tools more than it flows to human writers and artists?
© 2025 Abby Goldsmith DBA Fiery Press